Thank you to all of our Mystery Shoppers

Retail Active is the most innovative of all of the UK’s Mystery Shopping Companies, but we know that a lot of our great reputation is founded on the hard work of our mystery shoppers all over the globe.  With this in mind, it’s that time again – time to say a brief Thank You to our star Mystery Shoppers.

Thank you to Keith from South Lanarkshire:
Your help, at the last minute, on our most recent new project has been greatly appreciated throughout the scheduling team.  You’re a star!

Thank you to Natasha from London:
You’ve only recently joined the team and you’ve already completed numerous visits, most of which were hard-to-allocate visits.

Thank you to Justin from London:
You always go above and beyond to be a great help ... especially with our new VM check project!

Thank you to Robert from Stockton-on-Tees:
You’ve been a shining star in an area that is hard for us to allocate visits in.  Thank you for trekking out in all weathers for us!

Thank you to William from Limerick:
You’ve been a great help with our recent project in Ireland.  Thank you, William.

Thank you to Sarah from Limerick:
As always, you’ve been happy to travel across the country for us, picking up visits en route.

Thank you to Nicola from Belfast:
Travelling far and wide to complete visits for us, you have been a great asset over the past month.  We are delighted to have you on the team, and now your husband too!

Last but not least ...
Thank you to all of our secret shoppers – you help to make Retail Active the leading British mystery shopping company.  You can find out what we can do for your company, or join our mystery shopping team at www.retailactive.com

Mystery Shopping Alert

Over the past few weeks we have been made aware of honest mystery shopper applicants being targeted by tricksters.  Retail Active does not recruit mystery shoppers through an email, club, agency or list and advises those wanting to work for a Mystery Shopping Company never to part with cash in advance.  If you do then there is a very high probability that you will be defrauded.

Unsuspecting people, wanting to earn extra money, risk being scammed by bogus market research companies, who are trying to cash in on this increasingly popular activity.

Genuine mystery shopping companies like Retail Active advertise their contact number and can be called directly.  Always apply directly to mystery shopper agencies, If in doubt phone.

 Internet tricksters have angered genuine mystery shopping companies, like Retail Active, which is one of Europe's leading Brand Audit and Mystery Shopping agencies. The company gets calls from people all over the world worried that they have been duped - or are about to be.

 Retail Active's managing director, Julian Chamberlain says:

 "We are very angry that fraudsters are trying to exploit mystery shoppers who genuinely want to earn some much-needed extra income, as well as help improve customer service.

"We have received reports of people being asked for personal details when applying for mystery shopping jobs, which are then sold off to use on marketing lists - or for other uses, such as fraudulently accessing people's bank accounts.

"No reputable Mystery Shopping Company would ever ask for money in advance- so that is one  good way to establish if a company is genuine or not.

 All reputable mystery shopping companies provide training, so if there is none, the likelihood is that you are being conned.

The easiest way to be sure you’re application is safe is to register with a secret shopping company like Retail Active, at www.retailactive.com.

UK Consumers Complain More

One of the UK’s leading Mystery Shopping Companies ‘Retail Active’ has surveyed a panel of 2,541 people over the past three months to identify consumer’s propensity to complain about shoddy goods and service.

Retail Active conducts an annual survey to track the performance of customer service and reports a further decline in service compared to a year ago. More than half of High Street shoppers say customer service has worsened significantly across all sectors of high street retailing.

This major new survey by the mystery shopping company Retail Active says 62 per cent of mystery shoppers think service in the UK has worsened over the past year.

We are complaining more about shoddy service – thanks to the Recession to the current economy in the UK

A record number from the Retail Active mystery shopper panel say they are prepared to complain about shoddy service more than ever before. Three out of four people polled in the survey said they won’t suffer in silence any more – and will stand up to sloppy staff.

Retail Active CEO, Julian Chamberlain said: “This fascinating survey has given us a revealing snapshot of the effect of the credit crunch, service on the high street and peoples likelihood to complain.

“One very interesting factor is that 73 per cent said they do complain about bad service. This is the highest figure we have ever recorded and it shows British consumers are no longer prepared to suffer bad service in silence.

“Nearly a third, 31 per cent, of shoppers polled said they complain more now than they did before the credit crunch!

“Eight out of ten shoppers went on to say they would refuse to shop again at stores with poor service.

“A significant majority say they also expect more for their money in the current economic climate.

“The figures show consumers are put off by bad service and are taking their business to retailers who offer better service and value for money. If retailers cut back on customer service and training, they do so at their peril.

Julian Chamberlain said: “Retailers are having to fight for every pound in tough conditions and just can’t afford to let standards of service slip any further. The survey shows that customers think the deterioration in service is due to lack of staff, de-motivation, lack of training and staff being unhappy. The majority of customers said they were upset most by discourteous staff and about being kept waiting.

Retail Active Mystery Shopping is one of the UK’s leading Brand Audit and Mystery Shopping companies. It creates thousands of mystery shopping jobs to monitor customer service standards for a wide variety of clients in the retail, leisure, automotive and travel sectors.

High Street Service Declines For Third Consecutive Year

One of the UK’s leading Mystery Shopping Companies ‘Retail Active’ has surveyed a panel of 2,382 people over the past three months to identify what shoppers think about the quality of service on the UK high street.

Retail Active conducts an annual survey to track the performance of customer service and reports a further decline in service compared to a year ago. More than half of High Street shoppers say customer service has worsened significantly across all sectors of high street retailing.

This major new survey by the mystery shopping company Retail Active says 73% per cent of shoppers polled think service in fashion retailing has worsened over the past year.

Eight out of ten mystery shoppers went on to say they would refuse to shop again at stores with poor service.

An astonishing seventy-four per cent said they were prepared to spend more in businesses where they receive great service.

Retail Active CEO, Julian Chamberlain said: “This remarkable survey has given us a highly revealing snapshot of the effect service has on the British buying public.

“Retailers are having to fight for every pound in tough conditions and just can’t afford to let standards of service slip. Mystery Shopping is an essential tool to help fight back and improve the service offered within the UK.

“One interesting aspect of the research is that 73 per cent said they do complain about bad service. This is the highest figure we have ever recorded and it shows shoppers are no longer prepared to suffer poor service in silence.

“More than a quarter, 28 per cent, of those polled said they complain more now than they did before the credit crunch hit!

“These findings will make essential reading for retailers. If they cut back on customer service and training, they do so at their peril. The figures show people are put off by rotten service and are taking their business to retailers who offer better service and value for money.

Julian Chamberlain said: “The survey shows that customers think the deterioration in service is due to lack of staff, poor training, staff being unhappy and de-motivated.

Retail Active is one of the UK’s leading Brand Audit and Mystery Shopper Companies. It sends out thousands of mystery shopper agents every year to monitor customer service standards for a wide variety of clients in the retail, leisure, automotive and travel sectors.

Further detailed information about the survey is available at www.retailactive.com

Earn Extra Dosh Working as a Mystery Shopper

This article appeared in The Sun newspaper, Thursday 22nd October 2009


Earn extra dosh working as a mystery shopper

Join the secret service!


Fancy being paid to eat in top restaurants, go on holiday or test luxury yachts?

You could do all these things as a mystery shopper.

The job is an increasingly popular way of topping up your income and enjoying valuable perks. It also fits around your lifestyle. Paul Prowse, from financial advice website Moneymagpie.com, says almost anyone can be a mystery shopper.

He says: “All you have to do is be an actual customer in a shop or restaurant or hotel then say what you think of them afterwards. “You don’t need any qualifications but you do need excellent observation skills, a good memory and strong opinions.”

“Typically, you’ll be given a brief and a checklist of things to look out for. You need to follow your instructions (without letting anybody know you are testing them), evaluate the response and then provide feedback – usually through an online questionnaire. “For example you might go to a pizza restaurant, order some pizza and judge the cleanliness of the restaurant, the helpfulness of the staff, and the quality of the food.”

Paul adds: “Pay rates vary from company to company and depend on the work. Generally, you can expect to earn £5 - £25 per task plus expenses.”

“Make sure you find the right mystery shopping agency for you. Some department stores, like Selfridges, run their own schemes. But never pay to join a company – it’s likely to be a scam.”

Linda Smith signed up with Retail Active Mystery Shopping and ended up posing as the owner of a luxury yacht to check out facilities at a swish marina. The 57- year-old business studies teacher from Southampton says: “It is a great way to earn extra pin money and have fun as well.”

“I’ve never owned a boat but I had to read up on them and about tides so I could ask the right questions. Then I was asked to visit all their other marinas, where they gave me the red carpet treatment every time.”

“I’ve also had to check out the NHS by phoning hospitals and testing the quality of service delivered to patients.“

“You always get a full briefing on the background to the job and the questions you need to ask”

Julian Chamberlain, of Retail Active, says: “We employ thousands of mystery shoppers. It is perfect if you want a second income or you’re a student.”

“Payment depends on the size and nature of the assignment but we’ve just paid some shoppers more than £200 for a single job.”

“Plus you’re keeping businesses on their toes.”

Benefits of Secret Shopping in the UK

Where are your customers going once they have visited your store?

Just imagine for one moment the horror of having no customers in your store. Would you be satisfied that you have a successful business? The answer is absolutely not!

Customers are critical to the success of every business, so it makes complete sense that the better you make the customer's experience, the more successful your business will be. This is especially true in demanding times when all businesses are competing for every penny and every customer.

The unfortunate business reality is that your competitors are very similar to you. They have a good location, good product range, smart premises, easy parking and good staff. So the key to winning the loyalty of your customers is determining how can you persuade customers to come to your business rather than your competitors.

One of the best secret shopping companies called Retail Active develops world class Secret Shopping programmes. Their programmes help determine the key reasons why shoppers are satisfied or dissatisfied with the service and experience you provide. Retail Active helps build a clear picture of the trends and opportunities to help establish a clear lead ahead of your competitors.

Where Retail Active is different from all other Secret Shopping Companies is that they use award winning training methodology to design and implement solutions to real life business challenges. This is a unique process where the consumer insight is the basis of future staff training.

Retail active are helping companies grow year on year (even in tough markets) by providing clear and concise customer insight about service culture and where it needs to be.

Mystery Shopping in the UK - Secrets Revealed

What is Mystery Shopping?

Many companies contract market research companies to evaluate the quality of service within their business; these mystery shopping companies use mystery shoppers to obtain the information anonymously. They brief a mystery shopper to use the services or facilities in a shop or restaurant, for example, and then report back on the experience. Usually the mystery shopper is then reimbursed, and often can keep the product or service.

If you love to shop or eat out you may have been tempted by websites and unsolicited emails claiming that you can earn money as a mystery shopper. Sometimes unscrupulous mystery shopping promoters try to tempt people by offering meals at prestigious restaurants, shopping at luxury shops or staying at five star hotels. Unfortunately the reality is that most marketing companies fail to live up to the hype and do not deliver great mystery shopper opportunities.

According to Retail Active (a leading Mystery Shopping Company) mystery shopping is best considered as a part-time activity. Retail Active offer mystery shopping opportunities online at www.retailactive.com this enables their carefully selected and registered mystery shoppers to select the assignments they want to participate in.

On the flipside there are fraudulent mystery shopping organisations that promote the impression that they can offer lucrative mystery shopper jobs with reputable companies. These jobs are often fake and require unsuspecting potential mystery shoppers to register and then pay a fee for information about a job or list of mystery shopping companies. Retail Active warns that you should NEVER pay money to anyone to become a mystery shopper. Remember lists of reputable Mystery Shopping companies are available for free with legitimate mystery shopper jobs widely published on the Internet. Reputable mystery shopping companies such as Retail Active offer jobs via the internet in a secure and professional environment. Remember legitimate companies don’t charge an application fee!

Mystery Shopping Facts

1. Search the Internet for mystery shopping companies that are accepting applications.

2. Only submit applications online.

3. Becoming a legitimate mystery shopper for a legitimate company doesn’t cost a penny

4. Do some homework about mystery shopping and be sceptical of mystery shopping organisations promoters who advertise by unsolicited email.

5. Never buy mystery shopping directories online from companies that provide mystery shoppers

6. If you think you have encountered a mystery shopping scam contact the police.

For information on how to register to be a mystery shopper with Retail Active visit www.retailactive.com

Video Mystery Shopping

Video Mystery Shopping is a specialist market research technique using trained Mystery Shoppers equipped with hidden camera equipment to assess the experience of company’s products and services.

Mystery shoppers pose as normal customers to perform specific tasks such as purchasing a product, asking questions or to make a complaint. For Video Mystery Shopping to work effectively it is essential that they are trained video mystery shoppers and they are fully prepared and briefed on the projects business objectives. It is also crucial that quality covert recording equipment is used to avoid poor visual and sound recordings.

Video Mystery Shopping is a very powerful method of accurately recording what is happening within an organisation. It follows an agreed scenario to measure the performance of the business. Video Mystery Shopping covers aspects such as business compliance, sales and service as well as business performance, where it is tested against the measures set by the organisation or company.

This type of marketing research can take your business to new levels of success. There are several Mystery Shopping companies that offer Video Mystery Shopping. One of the most notable providers of Video Mystery Shopping is Retail Active. Their approach and purpose is to work with you to identify the key criteria important to your customers. Retail Active seek to help convert your customers into promoters of your business, sighting that measuring key aspects such as your ‘Lost Opportunity Cost’ and ‘Net Promoter Score’ which will help towards achieving your goals.
You may choose to use video footage as part of a training and coaching toolkit. Retail Active are winners of the National Training Award and are one of a very few companies in the UK that have won this prestigious accolade.

Video Mystery Shopping programmes make a significant and positive impact to company and staff morale. They also give you the opportunity to see the strategic opportunities to sell your products and services.

Retail Active are experts in Video Mystery Shopping services. They will give you the tools and support to make a meaningful and lasting difference to your business.
Retail Active provides research focused on delivering genuine business advantage to clients. If you would like to know more about the Mystery Shopping services they offer visit www.retailactive.com or call 01235 438413. Make the Retail Active advantage your advantage!

Mystery Dining

Mystery Dining is a service that is available to all hospitality companies such as restaurants and hotels who want to achieve the best quality of service available for their guests. The hospitality industry depends on the customer’s satisfaction in order to succeed. This is never more true than when the establishment is a restaurant or a hotel catered towards dining. The most important job of all is to make sure that their customers are getting the best service, therefore resulting in more business. Many guests use these restaurants and hotels for personal use as well as business use, so it is important that they are given the best service possible.

In today’s world it is very important for these restaurants and hotels to provide outstanding customer service to their clients as well as providing good food and excellent venues.
With a Mystery Dinning programme, you need to ensure that you get the best Mystery Diners available who will rate or score a number of areas, from how the food was presented to the cleanliness and upkeep of the venue. With so much to lose, it is important for you to find out any areas that need improving to enable you to act on it straight away. By introducing a Mystery Dining Programme, you will be able to achieve your biggest and most important goal of all. Not only will you be able to give the best service but you will be able to set yourselves apart from your competitors.

This is the reason why so many restaurants and hotels are hiring companies like Retail Active to provide a Mystery Dining Service to all clients. Retail Active are experts in delivering Mystery Dining programmes for hospitality and leisure businesses. Unlike other companies they can add real support in this sector because they have spent their life working it, they know food & beverage business inside out!

The Retail Active mystery dining team (aka Mystery Diners or Mystery Shoppers) evaluate staff on customer service skills and knowledge. Once the visit has been completed they give you detailed reports and solutions either monthly or quarterly, so you can keep up to date with how your staff are treating your valued customers. Apparently the Retail Active mystery dining reporting systems are the most advanced available and enables you to drill down detailed and objective levels of information, regardless of how complex the programme criteria.

Mystery Dining can help turn complaints into opportunities, accelerate sales and motivate both customers and staff. Using the right Mystery Dining company is essential and really can take your business to the next level of success.

Retail Active are the only Mystery Dining Company in the UK to have won the National Training Awards, they offer a risk free trial and quality guarantee. More information is available about their services at www.retailactive.com or call Retail Active on 01235 438413 to find out about a Mystery Dining Programme for your business and reap the rewards.

SALES GROWTH AND ADVOCACY WITH MYSTERY SHOPPING

Generating sales growth has everything to do with "advocacy", this can be explained as the willingness of customers to use a company’s products and services and then to recommend them to friends, family and colleagues.

Advocacy is a genuine and compelling loyalty towards your brand or services.
Advocates are much more than customers who return again and again. Advocates are customers who are prepared to argue your case, defend and champion your business against your competitors.

The more advocates a business has the stronger its sales growth becomes. Advocates are also often called promoters. Successful businesses have recognised the link between advocacy (promoters) and sales by communicating the strategic importance of advocates to their teams and by measuring the customer’s views through Mystery Shopping programmes.

Many companies make a substantial and lasting improvement to their business by gaining customer information and using it to make strategic decisions regarding the future of the company.
One Mystery Shopping company called Retail Active uses systems, processes and tools to measure the Net Promoter Score, often described as the customer health of check. The Net Promoter Score illustrates the rating of promoters, passives and detractors using the business.

Mystery Shopping is a very successful method of determining the customer advocacy levels of your business. Once you know the issues customers face then work to increase customer satisfaction, boost sales performance and build staff competence, resulting in increased profitability.
Retail Active Mystery Shopping helps identify the gap between the experience you seek to deliver and the actual experiences customers receive.

Their award winning business tools can be used to make a strategic and cultural change in your business at a fraction of the cost of other methods of change management.
If you would like to learn more about how customer advocacy can grow sales visit www.retailactive.com or call 01235 438413.

Mystery Shopping Measures To Holistically Improve Business Performance

By measuring the right things you can analyse, develop, motivate, inspire and achieve substantial improvements. Measure the wrong things and all advantages may be lost.
Measurements should be simple. If they require a lot of explanation and definition, then collecting data and translating that data into actions becomes less powerful and possibly a waste of time and money.

If you measure what you do, your team can evaluate alternative approaches to be more effective (doing the right things) and efficient (doing things right).

Sharing the measurement information is essential; this gives the team feedback and focus. After all "What you can measure you can manage" and "What gets measured gets done".

Those businesses that succeed and make money constantly assess themselves and improve in all dimensions of their offer, it's essential when defining measures that the mystery shopping criteria is Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Timely
At Retail Active we measure and collate information about each and every part of the customer journey. We examine the customer experience from initial thoughts to their lasting impressions of your business.

Mystery Shopping is only one part of the holistic service we offer. Just as important is the powerful information we gain from:
Employee Satisfaction Surveys
On-line surveys
Video Mystery Shopping
Retail and Brand Audits
Compliance Checks
Telephone Mystery Calls
Facilities Audits
Price Surveys & Audits
Competitor Benchmarking
Understanding this data can be key to creating positive improvements to your brand and business.
All of our Mystery Shopping programmes are bespoke and unique. Each one is designed specifically for our valued clients. We are able to offer this detailed level of Mystery Shopping service because our systems are the most advanced and proactive available.

How Mystery Shopping Can Assess Your Customer Loyalty And Generate Better Profits.

The best predictor of customer loyalty for most businesses is how likely their customers would be to recommend your company to a friend or colleague? When customers are truly loyal they not only remain committed to the company but also actively recruit new customers on your behalf.
Every company can divide customers into three categories; these are Promoters, Passives and Detractors.

Promoters are loyal enthusiasts (advocates) who keep buying from you and are highly likely to recommend your company, again and again.

Passives are satisfied and likely to recommend the services and products you offer, BUT could easily be enticed by your competitors.

Detractors are your unhappy customers who would be unlikely to buy from you and may encourage their friends to use your competitors – These are dangerous customers and can wreck a business reputation.

By analysing your promoters, passives and detractors you can measure your company’s advocacy metric. Your advocacy metric is linked directly to your company’s revenue growth rate. It takes into account both the increased word of mouth marketing as well as the lost potential growth.
Retail Active, the mystery shopping company, specialises in guiding companies to measure and improve customer advocacy and profits. They use sophisticated tools to determine customer advocacy, by store, by region and brand. These analytical tools help determine the strategic options to increase the number of advocates supporting you.

The customer experience you deliver each day, through every interaction, direct and indirect, either builds or destroys your brand.

Retail Active are experts in turning pioneering research into measurable ways to improve business performance, quickly and with surgical precision.

If you would like to learn more about how Mystery Shopping can assess your customer loyalty and generate better profits, contact Retail Active on 01235 438413 or visit www.retailactive.com

Mystery Shopping and Automotive Audits at Car Dealerships

One way automotive manufacturers measure the performance standards of dealerships is by using Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit companies to conduct visits to check against defined criteria.

There are a few Mystery Shopping companies that specialise in this type of service and one of the best is Retail Active based in Oxfordshire.

Retail Active is the leading automotive audit provider throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, they deliver monthly and quarterly audits for both manufacturers and dealerships. They provide a wide range of automotive Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit services including:

Face to face mystery shopping exercises
Facility Standards Audits
Car Showroom Audits
Dealership Compliance visits
New Dealership Applicants
Service Centre Applicants
Demonstrator Audits

The purpose of their automotive audits is to help the manufacturers raise and maintain the operational delivery of their car dealership brand and showrooms.

Each of the programmes is specifically developed to help increase dealership performance, standards and sales. Retail Active claim their service is the most advanced and proactive automotive check system available, which is certainly backed up by an impressive range of premium clients.

To sum it up this is an ideal opportunity to compare the visual, financial and physical performance of your car dealership. It also allows you the opportunity to generate performance accountability at every level within your business.

Think about it, full visibility of your car dealership and brand portfolio, hmmn that really could work!

Retail Active can be contacted on 01235 438413 or at www.retailactive.com

Does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service?

It’s vital that we remain close to what our customers want, but how do we know what they want if we don’t listen to what they say? Is it also true that listening to what customers say and responding positively to their comments will ensure we stay ahead of our competitors?

One company that asserts this is absolutely the case is Retail Active the leading mystery Shopping and Brand Audit Company. According to Retail Active we need to assess the level of service we are delivering to identify where we are performing well and not so well on our customer service delivery. Only when you assess the attributes of the experience your customers see as important, can see how to improve your service delivery of these attributes.
The leisure, hospitality and retail sectors are facing tough trading conditions and the need to evaluate the service they offer is more important than ever. Whilst evaluating your own service delivery it is important to bench mark against your competitors so that you can understand what impresses your customers about the service they experience from them.
Each of the Retail Active mystery shopping programmes is unique and designed specifically for the client. This is absolutely essential so always ensure any mystery shopping company is able to offer this detailed level of service.

Retail Active Mystery Shopping Programmes have many distinct benefits such as:

• Providing management information at your fingertips
• Helps significantly raise standards and behaviours, permanently
• Generate a common understanding of your brand standard within your business
• The mystery shopping process is transparent throughout
• Successful mystery shopping programmes save substantial management time and money, not to mention enhanced customer retention

There is one benefit that is often overlooked when considering if Mystery Shopping works and that is the positive impact it can have on embedding important processes and systems to eliminate inconsistency. So to answer the question, does Mystery Shopping really improve customer service? The answer is a very positive YES!

Retail Active, the Mystery Shopping Company can be contacted on 01235 438413 or at www.retailactive.com

Customer Service Training and Mystery Shopping

The new trend of using specific customer information to help design powerful and engaging training programmes is fast catching on in the UK.

Senior executives looking to make a real and lasting change in their organisation are turning to specialist Mystery Shopping Companies to provide consumer insight about real customers’ experiences. This information is used to create dynamic and participative training sessions to improve the customer experience, staff behaviours and profits.

Companies such as retail active are at the forefront, being one of the most reputable and fastest growing Mystery Shopping and Training providers who offer award winning customer service training.

If your objective is to deliver outstanding customer service and substantially grow sales then Retail Active can help your team gain a real understanding of the customer service challenges. Their objective is to show how world-class service can flourish within your business.

Each time the Mystery Shopping, Customer Service Training programme is used, it will take you on a journey of the customer service experience and pinch points in your organisation. This will help determine not only the customer service issues you may face, but critically it will enable you to determine a plan of action to affect a change in customer service culture.

The Retail Active Customer Service Training programme is totally unique and unavailable from any other source. Once experienced you will have a clear understanding of how effective this method of training is, as well as having the competence and skill to deliver world-class service, again and again.

By the way their Mystery Shopping service is pretty good also!

Mystery Shopping Companies - Choosing the Right Provider

Things to look for when choosing a Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit Company

Choosing the right company to measure your service and performance levels is a HUGE decision. Get it right and there is opportunity to make a step change in profits and success, get it wrong and you could just waste a fortune and miss a golden opportunity.

When you are looking to engage a Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit partner, make sure you look for companies that offer:

Capability to provide thorough and substantive evaluations
Professional help in setting up your programme from a trained team of experts Detailed online reporting and trending available 24/7
Client portfolio of world class, household name companies
Credible and robust quality control processes
Understanding and empathy of your industry and needs
A proven success record
A risk free trial
A full service guarantee
Dedicated client support team
Specialist in your sector
A dedicated switching service designed to make your move “hassle free”
An award winning training process that trains every Mystery Shopper
An award winning and proven method that takes raw consumer insight and uses it to effecting a real and lasting change for the better in your business.

We believe that only the very best Mystery Shopping and Brand Audit companies will even get close to these criteria.

The more you look the more you will notice the superior differences that companies such as RetailActive.com offers. We strongly believe that you can get more service and results for the same budget you already spend.

RetailActive.com is the fastest growing mystery shopping and brand audit providers in the prestige business sector, offering sophisticated 24/7 web based reportage and business intelligence for discerning clients.

Local Authorities benefit from Mystery Shopping

More and more Local Authorities are using Mystery Shopping programmes to measure customer service. Service levels are being measured for all communication channels with service users, face-to-face, telephone, letter and email.

When major changes take place within local services the local authorities implement mystery shopping programmes to measure the effect of the change on staff and users of the services they provide.

Some local authorities recruit their own shoppers for specialist services but most are turning to mystery shopping companies for their expertise. Setting up internal mystery shopping programmes can prove to be expensive and time consuming. Employing a professional mystery shopping company allows an impartial, consistent and constant approach. These companies employ and train local residents to be able to carry out visits inconspicuously and report in a fair and unbiased way.

Most local authorities use the published customer service standards as a basis for their assessment criteria, however some work with the mystery shopping companies to benchmark what they measure against other non-government sectors.

Mystery shopping not only identifies strengths and weaknesses but also highlights training needs. Changing behaviours is difficult in every organisation, however it is proven that where mystery shopping is used as an improvement programme, change can be achieved in a shorter timescale.

Mystery shopping can be used not only to provide vital feedback but in a proactive way to reward staff who are doing a great job. Managers can use feedback as a way of raising issues, action planning and praising staff for a job well done.

For success to be achieved mystery shopping programmes should be actively sponsored at all levels of the organisation and communicated well to every member of staff. Objectives must be clear and staff well briefed before programmes commence to ensure full participation and buy in. It is best to present to staff, managers and union representatives as part of the set up process and consult with them at each key stage.

Local authorities have achieved high levels of satisfaction from the mystery shopping programmes that they have implemented and gained useful feedback.

Mystery Shopping within the Hotel Sector

As the hospitality industry moves toward achieving higher standards than ever, the measuring and defining of customer service standards is essential.

Exceptional levels of customer service are vital to the success of any leading hotel brand. Hotels need to continually monitor and evaluate the service their staff offer their customers and are turning to Mystery Shopping Programmes as a means to measure that service.

The benefits of Mystery Shopping Programmes within hotels are endless. Not only do the programmes measure and monitor the levels of service the hotel provides but improves sales and customer retention. Continual measurement ensures standards are constantly achieved.

By increasing staff awareness about the importance of customer service for each department ensures that staff are clear about the standards required and how to achieve them.

Many hotels use customer surveys and satisfaction questionnaires as a method of collecting customer data but find that this does not give them the whole picture of the service they provide their customers.

The customer journey can start months ahead of a stay and the initial contact is vital to set the right impression. Mystery Shopping Programmes tend to cover every aspect of the hotel visit from a customers perspective. This can be from the reservation process right through to check out and in some cases after sales follow up. Advanced mystery shops also review the hotels website and advertised features and offers.

Every customer touch point should be measured against set company standards. There are a wide range of service elements that can be measured and evaluated in every hotel department.

Hotel mystery shopping programmes prove to be most successful when every member of staff is involved in the process. Organisations who ensure that every member of staff is trained in the service level standards set and understand the expectations of the customers they serve are rewarded with improved sales and increased customer retention. The Mystery Shopping Programme reportage should be shared amongst all staff within every department. This is so staff can see themselves how they are performing against standards set. It is vital that reports are presented in a positive manner and wherever possible staff are rewarded for their achievements. Hotel Mystery Shopping programmes are sometimes referred to as Mystery Guest, Secret Customer and even Mystery Diner Programmes.